A Summary Of 2 Decades Of Post Production Editing (2000-2019)
From the PC to a Mac and Back to a PC
Let’s take a look back at 2 decades in NLE post production systems. We have come a long way, in technological changes. The systems of today have more capabilities and the software has more features. It seems like a see-saw battle between the PC and the Mac on who was going to dominate in post production systems. It is still on going and very much in progress.
It is the early 2000’s and the PC ruled. The standard “wintel” (Windows and intel) platform dominates business and industry. In post production, this was a time of exploring new technologies in video editing. During this time, AVID was the most used platform among editors. It was a high-end system that favored veteran editors, but had a steep learning curve and thus experience was necessary. These systems however were not cheap, so start up studios could not really afford their own. This would require added costs to production so many smaller post production studios leased the equipment from a third party.
During this period, the requirements from IT was to manage upgrades and updates to the AVID systems. AVID had what is called Unity MediaNetworks which start at $40,000 (back in 2003) that is a part of the full suite of products for video editing and production. It came at great costs and required plenty of maintenance and administration. AVID’s hardware was also proprietary so it was not interoperable with other systems unless there was an emulator. This was not standard or best practice. If you were going to use AVID, you were going to use their complete system of hardware and software. AVID is a truly professional system, so it produces the best results for post production but at a high cost.
Some post production departments wanted to explore more affordable cost cutting measures, especially if the production was not on a large scale. Apple provided that solution in the Power Mac G5. Graphics artists and designers have had a long affinity with Apple, and their hardware and software was a more cost effective competitor to AVID. At around 2005, editors began embracing Apple’s G5 workstations along with the XSAN for high speed fiber based storage. It was a game changer in the industry at that time. Now you had editors using Final Cut Pro, which at that time was making a name for itself as an NLE alternative to AVID.
The G5 was gigantic. It was not easy to lift, even 2 persons are going to have a hard time carrying it. That is why IT departments have a push cart where they can load these machines to bring to a post production editing bay. Another thing about the G5 is that it burns hot like an oven after hours of use. It can also be noisy because of the loud fans inside the chassis. The typical way to edit started with the “sneaker net” in which production assistants collect edited footage on Lacie firewire harddrives from G5 workstations. To improve this, the XSAN was introduced which is Apple’s implementation of a storage area network array that connects each G5 workstation via GBIC fiber cards to a storage network. This made the sneaker net obsolete and editors can work directly on their content stored on the network.
The convenience and quality Final Cut Pro brought with the G5 would see an upgrade in 2006 with the introduction of the first series of the Mac Pro. It looked similar to the G5, but the main differences were in the internal hardware specifications. The Mac Pro introduced the USB 2.0 interface and expandable graphics cards and memory. In 2013, the most radical change in the Mac Pro took place with the introduction of a cylindrical design and more powerful hardware. This Mac Pro had server grade CPU and multiple GPU configuration with support for Wi-Fi ac, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI 1.4 interfaces. It was very top of the line when it first came out, it became a favorite among editors.
After 2013, the PC began to re-emerge as the preferred platform for post. Faster processors and GPU with accelerated CPU (APU) and faster memory architectures (HBM) and storage interfaces (NVMe) to faster storage devices (SSD) led to better and more robust PC editing workstations. Running on Windows and using software like Adobe’s NLE Premiere Pro or AVID MediaComposer, editors now had a really powerful desktop based post production system at their disposal that is not an Apple product. Apple has not made any updates to their Mac Pro since 2013, and as a result have been left behind by the PC. A high end desktop or HEDT running post production software today has far more superior hardware than the Mac Pro released in 2013. Some editors have tried hacking their Mac Pro to get more optimized performance, but it really doesn’t compare to the latest PCs used for editing.
Other editors got accustomed to the MacBook Pro for editing, but it is not meant for large scale workloads. While the MacBook Pro sort of filled the void for editors, it was still lacking the newer features until the update to the MacBook Pro was released in late 2016. The new MacBooks supported multi-monitor UHD and 5K support with Thunderbolt 3 and the USB-C interfaces. Apple got rid of the magsafe 2 power port and replaced it with a USB-C port, which actually supports both data and power at the same time. The newer MacBooks were professional quality products, but the best HEDT PC’s can still outperform them with better graphics acceleration as well. The next best thing Apple has at the moment is the iMac Pro. The iMac Pro has a more powerful sub-system than the MacBook Pro, and was designed to be a high-end workstation. It may satisfy editors who work on Apple products at the moment, but the Mac Pro update is what they are awaiting for.
An HEDT PC used for post has so much capabilities that includes support for the cloud. Other than that, new interfaces provide the fastest way to transfer and store data. Editing in post is very data intensive and the processing required to produce content has grown tremendously. The difference between a successful production nowadays is the time spent on creating the content versus the cost of production. With better hardware and software, the time spent is reduced and thus also cuts costs. This would not be possible with older systems like the Mac Pro for most workflows, because the system is outdated. Editors still use them, but many production studios are using the PC once again because they offer the latest requirements.
Another advantage the PC has is its customizability and upgradeable features. Apple does not offer much in terms of customizations. Once the product is shipped you are limited to what you can upgrade. On the other hand, a PC can be built from scratch and does not require a specialized technician to service the product. Apple has more of a non-user serviceable policy which means that either the product cannot be upgraded or requires a qualified technician. A PC does not have that policy since there are many manufacturers to choose from. The flexibility the PC provides allows editors to create configurations that suit their needs and improves or optimizes performance.
It started with the PC, and now it is back to a PC. In this case an HEDT PC that is a powerful workstation configuration utilizing the best hardware in the market. Performance has gotten better along with the features available for content creators. The momentum that Apple had with editors somewhat began to wane after the Mac Pro because during that time the main focus in the market were smartphones. Apple was busier building the iPhone brand which was their main cash cow that generates more revenues than what the Mac Pro can bring. It was put aside, but for a long time. It’s not like Apple is updating it every 2 years since the last specs go back to when it was released in 2013. 2019 is the year Apple has promised a new Mac Pro. The ball is now in Apple’s court, just waiting for them to deliver.
Note: By the time the new Mac Pro is ever released, we’ll know for sure if editors are going to return to Apple.
